Freedom senior Mason Sturm talks about playing for the North All-Stars in the WFCA All-Star Division 4-7 football game on Saturday at Titan Stadium in Oshkosh and also raising over $12,500 for Children's Hospital of Wisconsin (July 19, 2014).
Ricardo Arguello

OSHKOSH – Mason Sturm didn't have much in terms of statistics on the field during Saturday's Wisconsin Football Coaches Association All-Star Division 4-7 football game.

But while his exploits on J.J. Keller Field for the North all-stars at Titan Stadium were modest, his work off the field in raising money for The Children's Hospital of Wisconsin was legendary.

The Freedom standout had one rush for four yards and also caught a pass for five yards but did raise over $12,580, far more than any other player competing in the All-Star Games on Saturday.

South defeated the North 33-13 in front of 4,500 fans.

"It's a lot of work but it's a great cause," Sturm said. "I felt honored to be selected for this team so the least I could do was to try and raise money. It's going to a great cause and when people hear that they're all ready to support it."

Sturm's mother, Amy, said that the original goal was to raise about $7,000.

"Then the word started to spread," she added. "We contacted somebody and then they contacted somebody and they said they would like to help. So it was a lot of friends of a lot of friends with contacts in business. They all loved to help the kids."

Mason Sturm is heading to UW-Stout to continue his football career and Amy Sturm said it was great to watch him one last time at the high school level.

"To me, it was better than the Super Bowl," she said. "We are really so proud of him. Just getting selected to play here … it was amazing. It was probably one of the coolest things in his life."

Several Post-Crescent coverage area players participated in the game. Sturm's Freedom teammate Nathan Peters rushed for eight yards on six carries. And Shiocton's Talon Heinemeyer and Jacob Van Asten and Winneconne's Riley Kallas all played extensively on the defense.

Van Asten led the defense in tackles (eight) and Heinemeyer had six. The duo helped lead Shiocton to an undefeated season and the Division 6 state title last fall.

"This is probably one of the greatest weeks in my life," Heinemeyer said. "These guys are all great. They are all great personalities and all nice to you and I couldn't have asked for better people to play with.

Van Asten also added that it was fun to play with his teammate one last time as well.

"I'm going to miss playing with him," Heinemeyer said. "He's a hard player and he's great and I love coming together with the other CWC players as well. It was a joy to play with them as well."

Other North players on the field Saturday included Weyauwega-Fremont's Cody Chase (TE), Wrightstown's Doug Fabry (TE) and AJ Craig (OL) and Winneconne's Brett Kramer (OL).